Alexis Kaiser’s freshman season had just ended, but another opportunity already emerged. It was an invite from Stacy Iveson, one that reached Kaiser in the spring and offered her the chance to join the Israeli national team for the 2019 European Championships.

All Kaiser needed was at least one grandparent who was an Israeli citizen, and she was just one of 13 current or former Division-I softball players in the United States that met the criteria. The offer came out of nowhere, but a month later, Kaiser boarded a plane and started training in Israel. The ultimate goal was a top-eight finish in the Czech Republic and a 2020 Olympic qualification, but Kaiser also became an Israeli citizen in the process. She was one of two current NCAA athletes on the team — others were coaches or recent graduates. She hit .368 over nine games as the five hitter, rotational catcher and pinch hitter.

“She was a very strong and talented athlete and great hitter,” Iveson said. “Just a solid person you would want to have as part of your team.”

The invite wasn’t necessarily a reward for Kaiser, but a freshman season with the Orange that started with a home run in her first at bat and ended with a .250 average certainly helped her earn it. After years of gymnastics, soccer and just about every other recreational sport, Kaiser discovered softball and gradually became the home-run hitter she is for Syracuse. She led the Orange in home runs (7) and had the fourth best slugging percentage despite only playing in 38 of the team’s 53 games in 2019 because of a concussion.

“I’ve always been strong, I’m a bigger kid,” Kaiser said. “I had so much strength that I could hit it out of the infield when I was really young.”

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When she was 11 years old, Kaiser played club softball for the first time and had coaches that influenced her to play in high school and beyond. She dedicated her time between Canyon Del Oro High School’s team and her travel team, which played an hour and a half away in Phoenix.

Kaiser loved softball because it can be an individual sport. If the team is having a rough stretch or isn’t playing well, Kaiser said, she can still count her home runs. And that was her strength.

Connecting for long hits was natural for Kaiser. At Canyon Del Oro, Kaiser was an important part of the 2017 team that brought home its ninth state title in school history. During the four games of Canyon Del Oro’s playoff run, she homered against Gila Ridge in the first round and drove in four of the Dorados’ 32 runs. Nearly half the girls from that season went on to play in college, but it was Kaiser leading Canyon Del Oro with 14 home runs and a First-Team All-State award.

“She was an incredible hitter, so we always relied on her to come up in big situations or set the tone for the game,” Canyon Del Oro coach Kelly Fowler said. “You always have to have a leader both on the team and in the dugout, so she was both. You just can’t have a championship team without a leader.”

As a sophomore, Kaiser verbally committed to Syracuse. Playing collegiate softball was always a goal and Syracuse “felt like home,” Kaiser said. She won SU’s starting catcher job after the fall season, but suffered a minor concussion during the year when multiple foul tips in practice struck her mask. Kaiser was sidelined for several weeks — a drastic change of pace for someone who hadn’t gone a week without playing softball since age seven — and by the time she recovered, Gianna Carideo had taken over her spot behind the plate.

“I hated not being there,” Kaiser said.

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Kaiser hit the best out of any bench player, so head coach Shannon Doepking moved her to designated hitter. That didn’t discourage Kaiser, it was just different. She ended the season with 100 at-bats and 25 hits, laying the foundation for an expanded role in the future.

Her home runs, most over the left field fence, reinforced why she was recruited by former Syracuse head coach Mike Bosch in the first place. Doepking often placed her in the middle of the Orange’s lineup and relied on Kaiser’s power to help the Orange score runs in bunches.

“Coach Doepking always preaches to us ‘just own your role,’” Kaiser said. “…When I came back from my concussion I knew that all I had to do for this team was have a good bat.”

Even after her summer in Israel, Kaiser might not be Syracuse’s starting catcher. Carideo is no longer with the Orange roster, but Kaiser experimented with outfield in the fall — a position she had rarely played to that point.

She might have to abandon her life-long position of catcher, but her spot in Syracuse’s batting order is secure. Chances for RBIs will still exist. The Orange will find a way to get her pull-hitting power into the lineup. And ever since her concussion, Kaiser’s grown to accept that.

“I liked the idea of being part of a program where we can build ourselves up,” Kaiser said. “And I think we’re gonna do that this year.”

Published on January 28, 2020 at 11:02 pm

aekaylor@syr.edu | @cincinnallie